Two years without a job. No salary. No certainty. Pujo Pramono\u2019s only\ncapital at the time was the belief that to move further, sometimes one\nmust first be willing to lose something. While many chose to maintain a\nrising career, Pujo did the opposite. He resigned from his job as an\nengineer at Telkom to return to university. A decision that was seen as\ntoo risky at the time, but became a turning point that changed the way\nhe thinks, leads, and interprets the meaning of an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u2018At that time, many colleagues asked, \u201cYou just got promoted, why\nresign?\u201d That decision was indeed not easy. But I felt that a bachelor\u2019s\ndegree alone was not enough. There was a level of education I had to\nachieve to support my work, especially if I wanted to be at the\nmanagerial level,\u2019 Pujo told CNBC Indonesia.<\/p>\n
On paper, there was no reason for Pujo to leave his job. His career\nwas developing. He was part of Telkom\u2019s young generation that helped\nbuild the telecommunications network in Sumatra when Indonesia\u2019s\ncellular industry was just beginning to grow. However, amidst his\nflourishing career, Pujo realised there were limitations he had to\novercome. He believed education was necessary to cultivate a new\nperspective beyond technical skills. From that awareness, he made an\nunusual decision.<\/p>\n
Pujo enrolled in the Master of Management programme at the University\nof Indonesia through a Putera Sampoerna Foundation scholarship. For\nnearly two years, he was willing to leave his job to pursue a bigger\ndream, despite facing uncertainty. \u2018For that dream, we must indeed be\nbrave even though the \u201croad\u201d ahead may not yet be smooth,\u2019 Pujo\nrecalled.<\/p>\n
During his studies, Pujo felt that the Putera Sampoerna Foundation\nnot only gave him the opportunity to continue his studies but also a new\nway of thinking. Through the knowledge he learned, he began to\nunderstand that every human decision is always driven by reasons deeper\nthan just visible benefits. One of the most memorable experiences for\nPujo occurred during the orientation for Putera Sampoerna Foundation\nscholarship recipients. At that time, motivator Andrie Wongso introduced\nthe philosophy of self-determination, the belief that a person\u2019s future\nis ultimately determined by themselves.<\/p>\n
For Pujo, this philosophy was not just motivational words. The\nmessage came at a time when he was at a crossroads after deciding to\nleave his job to continue his education. \u2018Mr Andrie Wongso said that if\nwe are hard on ourselves, keep learning and are willing to push\nourselves, then the world will become soft on us. Conversely, if we are\nsoft on ourselves, lazy to develop, it is the world that will be hard on\nus,\u2019 Pujo explained.<\/p>\n
The message further strengthened his belief that the decision to\nleave his job was not a loss. From that moment on, he viewed education\nas a long-term investment to build a way of thinking, not just to obtain\na degree. This change became more pronounced when he delved into\nmarketing and consumer behaviour. From there, Pujo began to understand\nthat technology cannot be separated from human behaviour or business\nmodels.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am grateful to have learned marketing. I studied consumer\nbehaviour and means-end theory. From that, I understood that every\nperson makes decisions based on attributes, benefits, and value. That\nway of thinking can then be analogised to many things, even to life,\u2019\nsaid the man who now serves as Director of Operation & Sales at PT\nMetra Digital Media.<\/p>\n
It was this new way of thinking that he brought back when he resumed\nhis career at Telkom. One manifestation was seen in 2009 when Pujo was\none of the figures involved in formulating Telkom\u2019s philosophy and\ntagline, \u2018The World in Your Hand.\u2019 At that time, the slogan not only\nmeant that your future or your world is determined in your hands, but\nalso carried a deeper, very visionary meaning. In that era, mobile\nphones were still mostly used for calling and sending short messages.\nHowever, Pujo and his team at the time saw something further. They\nbelieved that one day, almost all human activities would move into the\npalm of the hand via mobile devices.<\/p>\n
More than a decade later, that prediction became a reality. Mobile\nphones are now the centre of people\u2019s activities, from working,\nstudying, and shopping, to accessing financial services and utilising\nartificial intelligence (AI) technology. For Pujo, this reality confirms\none thing: technology is just a tool. What determines success is the\nhuman being who is willing to keep learning and adapting faster than the\nchange itself.<\/p>\n
This way of thinking, which combines technical and management\nperspectives, has coloured his career journey. Today, he is trusted to\nlead various digital transformation initiatives at Telkom. From there,\ngreater responsibilities continued to come until he was entrusted with a\ndirectorship at a state-owned enterprise subsidiary, serving as Director\nof Operations & Sales at PT Metra Digital Media. However, for Pujo,\nthe position is not his greatest achievement. For him, the experience of\nstudying at the University of Indonesia through the Putera Sampoerna\nFoundation programme was the starting point that accelerated his career\ndevelopment while enriching his way of thinking. \u2018That was the starting\npoint that drove my career and knowledge development. From what I\nlearned, I can share it again through writings and books so that the\nbenefits can also be felt by others,\u2019 said Pujo.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/daring-to-be-unemployed-for-a-masters-scholarship-now-leading-a-state-owned-enterprise-subsidiary-1784890327", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }